This invention relates generally to table games and more specifically to a table game that combines the features of the conventional games of billiards and bowling. In billiards, the user employs a cue stick to strike a cue ball that is, in turn, intended to strike another ball to impel it into one of several pockets positioned along the periphery of the billiard table. In order to strike another ball, the cue ball is oftentimes intentionally deflected off a bumper or cushion along the periphery of the billiard table. In bowling, the user must travel to a specially constructed bowling alley to play the game, which involves rolling a bowling ball down a long, straight alley in an attempt to knock over as many of the pins arranged at the far end of the alley as possible.
It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to provide a bumper bowling game that combines the features and required skills of both conventional billiards and bowling in a table top game that can easily be accommodated in the user's home.
This and other objects are accomplished in accordance with the illustrated preferred embodiment of the present invention by providing a V-shaped table having flat outgoing and return alleyways with a concave gutter along each side thereof. The outgoing and return alleyways are joined at their distal ends by a cushioned bumper. A ball starter at the proximal end of the outgoing alleyway may be aimed by moving it laterally and pivotally and includes a starting ramp down which a ball rolls by gravity to gain sufficient speed to propel it in an outbound direction along the outgoing alleyway. When the ball comes in contact with the cushioned bumper, it is deflected by the bumper and caused to travel in the opposite or return direction along the return alleyway. A number of pins, shaped like conventional bowling pins, are arranged in the same configuration as in conventional bowling at the proximal end of the return alleyway to be knocked down by the ball as it travels along the return alleyway. Scoring is the same as in conventional bowling.